Manihiki Magic - Air Rarotonga MHX710

It is 7am and we are off to one of our craziest adventures!

Air Rarotonga is the local airline, servicing most of the 15 islands with an estimated landmass of just 240 square kilometers, in the Cook Islands. Beautiful small aircrafts that connect these islands over an area of close to 2 million square kilometers. We flew up to Manihiki in a Embraer Bandeirante prop machine, a strong small aircraft. The emphasis though is definitely on small. Probably the smallest that we have ever been on!
There is no looking back!

Friends are dropping us off at the airport in Rarotonga. It is 6am. We meet the other passengers whose main topic is the weight restriction on the flight to Manihiki. We are allowed to check in 10kg and one small piece of carry on. We are on our way to spend four months on one of the remotest islands on this planet, have a 2.5 year old and a three month old baby with us and not even close to having enough room for the little one's nappies. How is this all going to work and have we thought this through?
 









The flight is fully booked - 100% - not a single seat remains vacant. We have the two pilots on board (no fligh attendant!) and a local pearl farmer with his Chinese Technician (it is seeding time in Manihiki - we'll write about that in a later post). Our landlady Rua who is flying home after visiting family in Raro. She is with her four year old feeding granddaughter Rachel. Then, there is this papa'a family of four. Do the maths - that makes 7 passengers! The final seat on the Bandit is taken by a chemical toilet for emergencies...
Ready for take off!
Spoiled with a beautiful sunrise over Rarotonga. Ka Kite !

We are flying off ... while Rarotonga is waking up.

MHX 710 takes us to Aitutaki first - a 40-minute flight to refuel and use the restrooms at the airport. When we get back onto the plane, we find a surprise breakfast basket on our seats. A fresh sandwich, an apple, some lollies, a juice box and a small bottle of water. We should really appreciate these apples as there are literally no fruit and vegetables on Manihiki ! Maybe a pawpaw when you're lucky.

Flying over these beautiful lagoons is just amazing and it makes you realize how lucky you are to be able to travel this part of the world.
Aitutaki to Manihiki is a roughly 3 hour flight. It passed pretty much uneventful. Only that moment when our son looked at us and asked to go to the toilet! Oops, did we think alright, here we go... Sitting on a Porta Potty 465 flying over the South Pacific Ocean, just living the dream!

Porta Potty 465


And then there is Manihiki. We lived on Aitutaki for a year and a half so we were used to seeing this lagoon from the air - already overwhelmly beautiful. But nothing can prepare you for the beauty of Manihiki's lagoon from the air. My eyes were glued to the little window, I tried to enjoy the moment, make it count, take photos, a video of the landing. Words fail to describe the deep blue colour of this lagoon, the kāuas that look like little mini islands. Landing on the coral airstrip was actually smoother than anticipated.

Manihiki Lagoon


Welcome to Manihiki Airport!
You'll notice that Charlie has already beedn adopted... taken from us for a cuddle as soon as we stepped off the plane!) 

Happy Happy

Check out our Instagram - Azure Coconut
Location: Cook Islands

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